Microsoft, Google, and Netflix have joined forces to request a standard for encrypted streaming of HTML5 video. The proposal isn't itself a standard yet, but it moves users away from the need for proprietary plug-ins for managing keys to ensure access to copyrighted content is limited by rights owners without a need for nonstandard software such as Microsoft Silverlight (used by Netflix) or Adobe Flash (used by Google's movie service).
Opening the field to any compliant developer would eliminate the lock-in of proprietary format vendors and, hopefully, increase the options for consumers to select player software based on factors like usability and performance.
Apple, which is not a co-author of the proposal, was an early mover in rejecting proprietary plug-ins on mobile devices due to security and performance issues. Adobe's effort to maintain its market for plug-ins on the desktop (after apparently losing the war on mobile devices) is likely doomed by a widely-supported standard for providing DRM-governed video.
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